The Best of Sicily Tour Feb 10-18,2013

“Certainly, travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living.” – Miriam Beard

Most of the day to day accounts of the main stops of this tour are on my Italy Travel Adventuresblog posts starting with Palermo, Cefalú ( A night and the Convent & Fat Tuesday at the Convent), Taormina, and Siracusa What follows are brief accounts of some of the other things we saw and did along the way...

Day One...

While in Palermo the group stays at Hotel Tonic. Day one starts with a greet & meet gathering in the early afternoon to get acquainted with each other and our guides, followed by an orientation walk of Palermo, a Sicilian Puppet show and a fabulous dinner at a local restaurant. For this tour we were very lucky that not only it was reasonably priced, we also got two guides for the price of one. At times times new guides are paired with senior guides to learn the routes, and the company culture, or simply as a cross training effort. Our lead guide Nina and Aldo couldn't be better they really made the trip a fun and enjoyable experience, and we learned a lot along the way. Our driver was Antonio kept us safe while on the road in his nice pullman. Find more information about our time in Palermo by clicking on the hyperlink.

Day Two...

Jackie gets us oriented to Monreale

After breakfast day two starts with loading our bags in Antonio's bus and heading out to Monreale to see the Norman Cathedral, along the way we pick up Jackie, our local guide who remained with us for the duration of the day. The Norman Cathedral is beautifully decorated with Byzantine mosaics dating back to 12th Century. After the trip to Monreale we return to Palermo for lunch and a walking tour of the city, and after that we met Antonio again who drove of to Cefalú our next stop.

Inside the Norman Cathedral...

Day Three...

What can I say about our third day, it was a free day that began with non stop rain until it was time to go to bed. Did I mention that we stayed at a convent? Maybe not, if you are curious and want to know more about it click on the following hyperlinks: Cefalú, A Night at the Convent, Fat Tuesday at the Convent...

Day Four...

It is evident that the time spent at the convent in Cefalú inspired some to pray for good weather as our day started with the promise of a better day with no rain and the possibility of making a stop at Mount Etna on our way to Taormina.Mt. Etna is the largest active volcano in Europe, with an elevation close to 11K feet. We climbed up to 6K feet to get a better look of the Crateri Silvestri. While we were up there we were greeted with snow. When you grow up in a Caribbean Island and live most of your adult life in Miami, snow is always a welcomed sight.A walk around the crater proved to be a little difficult for me, the wind was blowing pretty hard, let's face it, I should be ashamed of myself as some of the other group member were able to do it. Vergogna!!!! Did I forget to mention that I was the youngest one in my group (other than the guides) , yep, it's shameful.

Mount Etna

It is really hard to appreciate Etna's beauty while you are standing on it, so I hope you enjoy this sunrise view taken from Taormina.

Lunch at winery ...

The aging barrels

From Mt. Etna we headed to an Agriturismo for lunch and wine tasting. The winery was called Barone di Villa Grande, Marco the owner was our host and Maria was our cook. This was no ordinary lunch, it was home cooked by Maria, the wine was flowing , the fireplace was going, and the company was excellent. Our group is really very nice and everyone gets along great, maybe it was the time spent at the convent.We tasted four different wines with grapes for the Etna region; Etna Bianco, Fiore, Etna Rosso and Sciara. In the US the wines can be found in Tennessee, No, I'm not kidding that's what I said, Tennessee???? But I will do my best to put in a good word at my local ABC Liquors and Total Wine and maybe just maybe we can get it closer to home. My top choices: Etna Bianco and Sciara.

A little bit more info about these wines, I'm not an expert but I like to make notes about the wines and how they taste to me.Etna Bianco - made with the Carricante grape, its a young wine, crisp with a hint of green apple taste.Fiore- 90% Carricante and 10% Chardonnay- this one also had a hint of vanilla tasteEtna Rosso- 80% Nerello Mascalese, 20% Nerello capuccio & Nerello Mantellato, I'm a sucker for blends and this one is quite nice, it had a nice body and a fresh earthy taste.Sciara- is a blend of Merlot and Nerello Mascalese, stronger body than the Etna Rosso but a little bit more refined. These varietals I've never had before, but I will definitely look at some of my local wine shops to see what they carry.

Needless to say it was a sleepy ride to Taormina, once we arrived the bus took us to a drop off point where we boarded local transportation up to town. After a quick walk and orientation tour of the town, I spent the rest of the evening chillaxing and having cocktails at the hotel.

Day Five...

Our day in Taormina stated with a free mornign thay I used for, what else? to do laundry! In reality I paid someone to do laundry for me and headed to cruise around town. Let's face it, it's Valentine's day and this place is quite chi-chi (not my words). Unfortunately for me as we say in Italy "sono da sola", so I hooked up with my tour buddy Joe to explore the place. Joe is an early riser like me. We decided to take the bus and head up to Castlemola to catch the coastal views. Problem..... the bus never showed up so quick change of plans and we headed back into town and went to the public gardens or Parco Duca di Cesaró. After that we headed our separate ways, and I went in search of Arancinis. a typical Sicilian street food specialty which are basically riceballs stuffed with ragu, or spinach and cheese, amongst other things. I followed the directions to a local bar called Da Cristina Panificio, after I got there it was closed for renovations. Since I'm the queen of Plan Bs, I headed to a bar that I've seen always pretty full every time I walked by it. What do you know, I found our guide there and I knew the place could be trusted. I was not dissapointed with the Arancinis, as a matter of fact they became my snack of choice everytime I could have them.In the afternoon we were joined by Pina, our local guide, who took us on a tour that started in the Teatro Greco and ended in Piazza del Duomo.After the tour we had a great pizza dinner at a restaurant owned by our hotelier. It included a Pizza and Tiramisu making interactive demonstration. If you know me well, you know I LOVE pizza, I may have been "da sola" in Taormina but I certainly had a blast on Valentine's day!

Day Six...

We leave Taormina for Siracusa on the way we make a stop in Catania to visit the WWI museum. The museum honors those who died during the Sicily invasion in 1943. This museum was quite interesting, its layout to resemble Italy of the time and it has a bomb shelter where for 1:30 you get to experience what it is to be in a bomb shelter. The only thing I can tell you is that after 30 seconds I was ready to get out, so I can’t imagine what people had to endure in those times.After that we headed out to another agriturismo, Tenuta del Gelsa, with over 100 acres where they grow citrus, mainly delicious blood oranges, and they also have a vineyard near Etna. This area is know for having rich fertile soil and lots of sun.At the Agriturismo we had a wonderful lunch, honestly, if it was up to me I will still be there eating but my mom raised me with manners and at some point I said I was full.Below some picture of the group picking oranges and squeezing fresh blood-orange juice.Another sleepy ride until we arrived to Siracusa, were we get dropped off and taxis are waiting to take us to our hotel. I haven't mentioned that we are staying at yet another covent...Our hotel was nothing like any convent I've stayed at, and quite frankly I will stay there again in a heartbeat. After we checked in and made ourselves at home we had an orientation tour of the city center with our trusted guide and then we were set free to do as we wished.

Day Seven...

Today we explore Siracusa, population 124,00. We are actually staying in the Island of Ortygia which makes the historic center of the city. Because of its location Siracusa was prime real estate for colonists and it’s rich history dates back to 734 BC when Greek colonists from Corinth founded it. This area was the largest trading emporium in the area, and had lots of limestone to build. With our local guide, Rosa, we went to the Archeological Park of the Neapolis (New City) and the Paoli Orsi Archeological Museum.In the afternoon, what else ?? We had an impromptu Happy Hour at the Hotel! For more info and pictures of Siracusa, click on the hyperlink

Day 8...

Caltagirone & Villa Del Casale

A view from above

We leave our plush convent, and we head out to meet Antonio. Our destination today: Caltagirone and Villa del Casale. It's a sleepy Sunday morning and I found Caltagirone to be a sleepy town. With a population 39,000 it’s known for it’s ceramics, specifically majolica or maiolica. This style of ceramic din't move me. But then again the town itself didn't move me. One thing I did while I was there was climb the 142 to Santa Maria del Monte. In the 50’s majolica tiles were added to each of the steps, so it is quite nice as you climb to see the different tiles. I also spent some quiet time at the Public gardens which date back to 1880.

Villa del Casale

Girls in Bikini

Near the town of Piazza Armerina, Villa del Casale is a 4th Century Roman villa will blow your mind with it’s floor mosaics which are displayed as they were found. I hope you enjoy the sample of mosaics I've chosen for the slide show.

After Villa del Casale we leave for our country style hotel called Torre di Renda, which overlooks the town of Piazza Armerina. There we had yet another wonderful dinner and prior to that? What else, we had another impromptu Happy Hour!

Day Nine...

Agrigento and Segesta

Today is technically our last day, and it's going to be a long one. We leave our nice country hotel and head to Agrigento where we will meet our Michele our local guide. I learned from Michele that Agrigento was part to the area known as Magna Graecia, and it was built around 5th century B.C. Agrigento holds the Valley of the Temples with an array of Doric Greek temples. We leave Agrigento and head out to Segesta, the catch; a bridge on the normal route we should take collapsed the week before, so now we need to take the "scenic" route to Segesta, which will take us through Palermo instead of around Palermo. While on our scenic route we encounter a road block were a Carabinieri told us that there have been "un incidente fatale" a fatal accident. We braced to be there for a while, but 10 minutes later we were on our way,it was not a fatal incident, just a dump truck that hit a car and no one was hurt.

The Valley of the Temples

Segesta

In Segesta we find the ruins of another Doric Greek temple dating back to 5th century B.C and an ancient Greek Theater which dates back to 3rd Century B.C.

Sometimes we have a little extra fun with our guides...

Here Nina begs Aldo to sing for us, and he totally ignores here. But later he was tempted by the idea of singing with a Broadway star.I did mention before that this group was a fun bunch!

And all good things come to an end...

Later that night we had our last group dinner at a wonderful restaurant in Palermo called Vino e Pomodoro. The food was great, and there was lots of it, just when we thought we were done there was another course coming. Nina, our lead guide really out did herself with the meal choices. I can say that I enjoyed each and everyone of our group meals. Overall Nina & Aldo made this trip a great experience, I enjoyed every minute of it.Now it was time to say goodbye to our new found friends and wish Buon Viaggio to those that were going home in the next few days. And for me it was time to repack my bags and search for new adventures...